Sewing a Dice Pouch

Me friends and I play D&D. Yes, the game with graph paper and funny-sided dice. The dice are an important part of the game, so just throwing them into the bottom of your bag is a bad idea. They're notorious for getting lost.

So that's why I made my friends each a dice bag for Christmas. Here's how I did it.

Step 1: Stenciling and Cutting

I started by cutting out a stencil because I needed to make 7 identical pouches. I just eye-balled the measurements, but a good size is 285x130mm. I then applied the stencil to the cloth I was using (decommissioned pants), tracing the stencil with a sliver of soap.

After the the stencil was transferred to the cloth, I just cut out the rectangle.

Step 2: Sewing the Guiding

I wanted the bags to have draw-strings, so I had to make guiding flaps.

To do this I just bent down 25mm of material from the top of each (narrow) end of the rectangle, the sewed them across the end. When you're done you should have two loops of cloth across the top of your rectangle.

Step 3: Closing the Pouch

Next, you fold the bag in half, so that the part you want to be inside, when you're done, is on the outside. Sew shut both sides (not the fold or the loops), so that the guiding loops are at the top, and are not sewn shut (this will be the opening of the bag).

Step 4: Running a String Through the Loops

This, for me, is the hard part. You want to run a string through the loops. I used a surgical needle holder, because that's what I had at my disposal. It would probably be easiest to use a piece of wire (run it through the loop then clamp one end of the string with the wire, and pull it back through). You want to pull the same string through the loops.

Step 5: Finishing Touches

Now all that's left to do is to clip off any dangling string and turn the bag inside out.